Effective teamwork is the key to success. A strong, motivated team will make it through hard times together, share in each other’s successes, and share the load utilising their unique strengths and talents.
Building a strong team takes leadership. You have to be able to make the hard decisions, change strategies when they’re not working, establish and uphold performance standards and maintain motivation and engagement within the team. You have to manage egos and personalities, be a solid communicator, and know how to lead by example.
It’s not as intimidating as it sounds, and yet many small business owners never really step into the leadership role: they delegate, but not effectively, simply because they don’t know the “art of people.”
Here are some tips to help you develop your leadership skills and build an effective team within your organisation:
- Know yourself. What’s your leadership style? Psychologist Kurt Lewin argued
that there are three major styles of leadership:
Autocratic: you make decisions without consulting team members. This works if you need to make immediate decisions when there’s no time or need for team input. However, this style can also make people feel unappreciated and undervalued. This leadership style often results in high absenteeism and turnover.
Democratic: you have the final say, but you include team members in the decision-making process. This is not an effective style when quick decisions need to be made, but in general it fosters creativity, engagement, and employee satisfaction
Laissez-faire: you give your team a lot of freedom and autonomy. You provide support and guidance if needed, but generally let them run things their own way. This can backfire with team members who aren’t confident in making decisions, need external motivation, or are ineffective with their time. In the right situation, it can lead to high job satisfaction and exceptional performance.
- Engage with the team. Get to know them. When your team knows you care about them (on a personal level) and have their best interests at heart, they will follow you to the ends of the earth! This approach also helps you get to know each member’s unique talents and strengths so you can divide up responsibilities in the most effective manner. It also helps you know which buttons to push in your team… and when. Investing the time to truly connect with your team, and get to know how each one is wired, will help you motivate them and encourage them to excel far beyond expectations.
- Set clear expectations. Here, it’s important to keep the “team” in mind as you assign responsibilities and expectations. Your team’s efforts are interconnected and interdependent – salespeople must be supported by top admins, admins and salespeople need guidance from their fearless leader (you), and you need feedback from everyone as to what is working and where their productivity is being slowed down. Ideally, you assign tasks to people that match their talents, interests and passions; but when that’s not practical or possible, you can encourage them to branch out, upskill themselves and grow. Done right, this will make them feel valued, and they may even blossom in roles that aren’t “obviously” suited to them.
Communicate. Feedback needs to be constant, and proactive. Don’t wait until there’s a big problem, when you
could have communicated concern when the problem was small.
- Set the foundation. The building blocks for a successful team include:
- Clear objectives – share your vision with the team to foster engagement and cooperation
- Clear expectations
- Effective and efficient processes
- Individual development – encourage education, even outside of their job description
- Communication and feedback
- A service culture – hire people whose main emphasis is on “what can I do for the customer” versus “what can the customer do for me”? Success is all about relationships, both within the team and with the customers.
When you have a solid team, you know they have your back because you have theirs. They may be the ones out there interacting with the public more than you are, and if they’re passionate and engaged, they will do what it takes to make the company prosper.